But It IS Normal! ~ Part I

But it IS Normal!

Part I

2003 ~ 2013

 

A Shimmering at most!

I

WHEN whispers of self-righteousness bounce out from darkened corners it is within my nature to provoke debate.

First published in 2013, I attach great importance to this article.

Its foundation is a lifetime being a lie. This last decade has been the process of writing and publishing. From the outset there has been that leprous feel in cosy circles... and it still pervades our society. 

I retreated to the old position that kept me firmly in the closet through three careers, and with it the sense of emptiness.

II

Notwithstanding the support from some friends, some also like-minded, family, and friendships formed on Facebook. A caveat with Facebook ~ always work on the basis that I never know whom I’m talking to.

Admonishing whisperers come to the door gradually weakening resolve and breaking one's will to resist, to carry on, to fight our corner.

In the mind's eye, in such circumstances it is so easy to slip back into the cosiness of the darkened room, that closet where people must be kept out of public gaze because... well, you know... the neighbours might not like it. And this indictment upon every community down the ages is not confined. Physical and mental disability are the dark whisperer’s stock-in-trade.

III

In 2013, a friend explained how his neighbours had come round to apologise to him for the fact that their builders working on their extension had removed their shirts, and two were bearing exposed pierced nipples and tattoos.

"Disgusting!"

What a world we live in. 

It has been building up all week from the negative feedback and pronouncements…

“You must act responsibly and deny what ‘in God’s Name you consider to be your true self.’ ”

— IBM

And whilst I am very much a ‘back against the walls brit’, no pun intended, when it comes to standing my ground and then striking back, weariness creeps in and I emailed a friend on various matters and then, as we sometimes do with those closest to us, lobbed one comment in ~ a quick request for advice.

I'd decided that I was after all abnormal (and with that came all the horrors of those terrible years in the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s, where it was made clear that I was abnormal unless I got married, had kids and thereby proved that I was normal. I hasten to add, none of that came from my family. It came from that especially narrow-minded section of the wider church. As regards the epilepsy, well, we can deal with that with prayer, as obviously God is using this as a means of disciplining you, and you need to have that demon cast out.

So my last line to my mate was just a simple statement: "I wish I was f… … normal!"

Ignoring all the main items in our discussion by email, this guy - totally straight, moreover - did what I call a right hook and upper cut! I know how he thinks, and I know when he gets truly pissed off. And boy am I glad he did. For in his reply came this one simple statement:

Ken. Gay IS normal! When you forget that, hope is lost!! Idiot!!!

Yep - there it all is.

Twelve simple words, three sentences, the power of the Universe behind them, and enlightened readers will get just What or Who I'm referring to here. About Whom by the way I do not see as we are expected to see. A shimmering at best. An aspect of Nature. Nature, supreme.

Gay IS normal!

When you forget that, hope is lost!!

Idiot!!!

IV

I wrote Being Gay, Being Bi, Whatever. It is all about inclusive sexuality. Its crux is the simple statement…

“Live, and let others live too.”

— IBM

We have a very long way to go.

On the one hand, I am heartened by the massive supports and 'shares' of that lovely image of the two American footballers in full kit and with their team numbers 2 and 8, a lovely kick back at the old Section 28 UK Law that forbade promotion of homosexuality by teachers in schools in sex education lessons.

On the other hand, the Leader Article in The Independent (August 19, 2013) in which it reports that schools are - through the backdoor - keeping very much alive Section 28.

The Government has acted swiftly and set up an inquiry, but we are dealing with young people's lives in their formative years.They have the right to receive substance answers to substance questions, and they have the right to truth, honesty and transparency from their teachers. Just as there are incompetent and even plain bad medical practitioners, so, too, with teachers.

V

To those who've scoffed at the book Being Gay Being Bi Whatever, to those who feel it would be better if it was called Being Whatever, to those bookshops in Lancashire who refuse to display it on their bookshelves for fear of offending their customers…

Get over it.

“Get over it.

Accept the fact that being gay or lesbian or bisexual is perfectly normal and natural, always has been, and always will be.

The apparent ‘abnormality’ emanates solely from those minds that prefer superstition and myth preferring equally to reject reality, scientific explanation and truth, the tubular roots of which are found in every religion and the mindset of every fundamentalist.”

— IBM

I am still very attached to Liverpool. Long may this continue.

28 February 2025


Liverpool


© 2013 Ian Bradley Marshall



But it IS Normal! ~ Part II

First Written 21 August 2013